"MAMA yuri where do you get the merch?" is a question i get asked a lot, so let me tell you - sayuri espinoza, 7th grade
Recently, many people have been finding it difficult to find merchandise from their favorite shows, such as Chiikawa, My Little Pony, and so much more. Miniso, once popular for selling a wide variety of cute merch, is now receiving backlash because they don’t sell a large assortment of fandom-specific merch anymore. They’ve switched to stick with three main fandoms and a couple of blind boxes and figures, such as Lilo and Stitch, Harry Potter, and Snoopy.
While it may seem hard to find merch from other fandoms, it’s not impossible. Here’s a rundown of what shops sell merch of fandoms and how to search for it. But first, this is a guide for where to find merch specifically for these shows and characters:
Funpark
A store I recommend most is Funpark, located on Park Street. They have a variety of cute merchandise from all kinds of shows, books, and games, such as Chiikawa, My Little Pony, Project Seki, My Neighbor Totoro, some LGBTQ media, and much more! Along with that, they have stations to decorate your own mirrors, phone cases, hair brushes, etc.
A big thing about them, which is my personal favorite, is that they have other bigger known brands, such as Peachriot. Which, at a place like PopMart, would be up to $40, but they sell it for $20. They have high-quality items, and things that are in and still sell them for much cheaper than you would find at any other store. It is still pricey, but much cheaper than other well-known stores.
Barnes and Noble
Another store that is quite popular for books and novels, but sells all types of things, is Barnes and Noble. They have Flower Knows, which is a very popular makeup, Calico Critters, Miffy pencil cases and erasers, Pusheen plushies, puzzles, makeup bags, and more.
Barnes and Noble has a lot of stuff and plenty of options to explore; they even have some more popular ones like Howl's Moving Castle merch and My Neighbor Totoro. And while it might be a bit pricey, it’s definitely a go-to for when I want any Pusheen merch.
5 below
5 Below is the holy grail of affordable merchandise and good-quality products. You can find all types of merch there, ranging from Strawberry Shortcake all the way to Littlest Pet Shop. This is where I commonly get my Toki Doki merch; they have blind boxes, blankets, phone cases, and even keychains. That’s not where they stop; they carry Chirikawa key chains, Pusheen, Sanrio, etc.
They are quite affordable, meaning you can buy at least 4 blind boxes for $20 or 2 for $10! This place is nice if you want some good quality merch but are on a budget. I go a ton, and it’s never hurt my pockets the way Miniso does.
“HOW DO I SPOT PLACES THAT MIGHT HAVE THE MERCHANDISE I WANT?”
Finding niche merch can become a bit difficult; have no fear because Mama Yuri knows all the good tricks. First, see where your media originated and where it became most popular. This is an important step when trying to find merchandise for many reasons.
For example, think about Steven Universe, you would find more merch in a Western store rather than others because it got bigger in America and was made in California. You could apply this to most media. If a show was made in Europe and got popular in China, try looking in Chinese markets for kids, or a European store in your area.
Now that you have that step down, remember it’s always important to know just how vintage that media is, or when it was made. Was it over 10 years ago? Chances are, it’ll likely be found in stores that collect older media or toys. For example, Yokai Watch, a show made in Japan that got popular in America in 2013, is now almost never talked about.
A show like this got its 15 minutes of fame and soon died out; it’s almost impossible to find any merch in solid condition from a media this old and untalked about. However, when you take my advice into account, you can narrow the markets you want to search down to 2 categories: an Asian market and a Western vintage toy store.
I put this to the test before writing this, and I found exactly what I wanted, in a vintage toy store on Park Street named Toy Safari. They had many toys ranging from vintage My Little Pony toys, vintage Polly Pockets, and much more older media and toys.
I went there with one goal in mind: find Yokai Watch merch, and that’s exactly what I did. What I found was a never-opened, good condition Robonyan toy. This was an extremely rare find, on eBay it’s 11.77, and with that 11.77 I could buy a venti Starbucks frappe. You know how much I bought it for? 4 bucks.
While it may seem hard to find merch from other fandoms, it’s not impossible. Here’s a rundown of what shops sell merch of fandoms and how to search for it. But first, this is a guide for where to find merch specifically for these shows and characters:
- Pusheen
- My Little Pony
- Toki Doki
- Miffy
- Chiikawa
Funpark
A store I recommend most is Funpark, located on Park Street. They have a variety of cute merchandise from all kinds of shows, books, and games, such as Chiikawa, My Little Pony, Project Seki, My Neighbor Totoro, some LGBTQ media, and much more! Along with that, they have stations to decorate your own mirrors, phone cases, hair brushes, etc.
A big thing about them, which is my personal favorite, is that they have other bigger known brands, such as Peachriot. Which, at a place like PopMart, would be up to $40, but they sell it for $20. They have high-quality items, and things that are in and still sell them for much cheaper than you would find at any other store. It is still pricey, but much cheaper than other well-known stores.
Barnes and Noble
Another store that is quite popular for books and novels, but sells all types of things, is Barnes and Noble. They have Flower Knows, which is a very popular makeup, Calico Critters, Miffy pencil cases and erasers, Pusheen plushies, puzzles, makeup bags, and more.
Barnes and Noble has a lot of stuff and plenty of options to explore; they even have some more popular ones like Howl's Moving Castle merch and My Neighbor Totoro. And while it might be a bit pricey, it’s definitely a go-to for when I want any Pusheen merch.
5 below
5 Below is the holy grail of affordable merchandise and good-quality products. You can find all types of merch there, ranging from Strawberry Shortcake all the way to Littlest Pet Shop. This is where I commonly get my Toki Doki merch; they have blind boxes, blankets, phone cases, and even keychains. That’s not where they stop; they carry Chirikawa key chains, Pusheen, Sanrio, etc.
They are quite affordable, meaning you can buy at least 4 blind boxes for $20 or 2 for $10! This place is nice if you want some good quality merch but are on a budget. I go a ton, and it’s never hurt my pockets the way Miniso does.
“HOW DO I SPOT PLACES THAT MIGHT HAVE THE MERCHANDISE I WANT?”
Finding niche merch can become a bit difficult; have no fear because Mama Yuri knows all the good tricks. First, see where your media originated and where it became most popular. This is an important step when trying to find merchandise for many reasons.
For example, think about Steven Universe, you would find more merch in a Western store rather than others because it got bigger in America and was made in California. You could apply this to most media. If a show was made in Europe and got popular in China, try looking in Chinese markets for kids, or a European store in your area.
Now that you have that step down, remember it’s always important to know just how vintage that media is, or when it was made. Was it over 10 years ago? Chances are, it’ll likely be found in stores that collect older media or toys. For example, Yokai Watch, a show made in Japan that got popular in America in 2013, is now almost never talked about.
A show like this got its 15 minutes of fame and soon died out; it’s almost impossible to find any merch in solid condition from a media this old and untalked about. However, when you take my advice into account, you can narrow the markets you want to search down to 2 categories: an Asian market and a Western vintage toy store.
I put this to the test before writing this, and I found exactly what I wanted, in a vintage toy store on Park Street named Toy Safari. They had many toys ranging from vintage My Little Pony toys, vintage Polly Pockets, and much more older media and toys.
I went there with one goal in mind: find Yokai Watch merch, and that’s exactly what I did. What I found was a never-opened, good condition Robonyan toy. This was an extremely rare find, on eBay it’s 11.77, and with that 11.77 I could buy a venti Starbucks frappe. You know how much I bought it for? 4 bucks.
